[RESOLVED] Win Explorer Shortcut Disappeared

[speedyme]

When right clicking on the Start button, what used to be a handy shortcut to Windows Explorer... has been greyed out!

I don't know where it has gone and don't know where to look to get it back.

[DR]

Check and see if file attributes changed to hidden. Click on My Computer, Hard Drive, Windows folder (in 98 click show files), scrool down to the Explorer icon, Right click, select properties and see if hidden has been checked. If it has then uncheck it. If not we will try something else.

[speedyme]

Originally posted by DR:
Check and see if file attributes changed to hidden. Click on My Computer, Hard Drive, Windows folder (in 98 click show files), scrool down to the Explorer icon, Right click, select properties and see if hidden has been checked. If it has then uncheck it. If not we will try something else.

Sorry DR... already unchecked.

Do you have another solution?

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AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
128MB KingMax ECC RAM
Can I Go Harder?

[DR]

I tried this on mine and it worked, lets see if it fixes yours. Using Explorer open two windows on desktop, one being the Windows folder that contains Explorer. The other will be the Programs folder under the Start Menu. Delete the Explorer shortcut icon in Programs folder if it exists. Right click on the Explorer icon in the Windows folder and drag it to the Programs folder. When you release the button it will ask you if you want to move it,copy it or create a shortcut. Both create a shortcut and copy it will work. Good luck! Post again if it doesn't work.

There is also a faster way to Exolorer. Right click on the start button and a small window should appear with Explorer as one of the selections.

[This message has been edited by DR (edited December 05, 2000).]

[pga]

Originally posted by DR:

There is also a faster way to Exolorer. Right click on the start button and a small window should appear with Explorer as one of the selections.

isn't that what he is having trouble doing?

speedyme... not sure how to fix that... it's probably in the windows registry, but i am not sure where it is located.

[DR]

pga

You are right. Guess I should have read the post carefully. Since the way I tried doesn't work I'll have to see if there is another way. Thanks for catching my mistake.

[pga]

Originally posted by DR:
pga

You are right. Guess I should have read the post carefully. Since the way I tried doesn't work I'll have to see if there is another way. Thanks for catching my mistake.

no problem... done the same thing myself before...

anyhow... i am sure there is a simple entry in the registry that will fix this for this guy.... does anyone know where in the registry to look??

[DR]

I went to Regedit.com and they listed a way to remove the right click ability from the start button. The explore command is under the registry keys they listed. If you have WIN 98 run scanreg/restore at DOS prompt. You will have to have a copy that is dated before you lost the Explore button.
If you want to look to see if it's there, go to Run, type regedit. In Regedit go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\find\command In the command folder there should be a string value named C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.exe
And in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\explore\command a string value named C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.exe/e,/idlist,%l,%l And in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\shell\explore\ddeexec A string value named ExploreFolder("%l",%l,%S) I would not advise you to add these manually unless you like taking chances. WIN98 isn't bad with scanreg tool to rescue yourself but I have had to reinstall the OS because of "learning" how to edit the registry.
Scanreg is your best bet if you have it. If not get back to us and post your OS.

[Schui]

Do you have multiple user logons on this pc, and also, have you installed Tweakui. I've got the same problem if I install Tweakui..!

If you have installed Tweakui, then you can remove it, and install the Windows 98 version.

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A General Protection Error has occured - Time to go home...

[speedyme]

Originally posted by Schui:
Do you have multiple user logons on this pc, and also, have you installed Tweakui. I've got the same problem if I install Tweakui..!

If you have installed Tweakui, then you can remove it, and install the Windows 98 version.



No, I don't have multiple user logons... however, I do have dual booting set up with Win98SE/Win2kPro.

I do have TweakUI installed though... I will check this one out and see how it goes.

(By the way Win2k goes off!!!)

------------------
AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
128MB KingMax ECC RAM
Can I Go Harder?

[jeffsr]

On other thing to check. Open system.ini and make sure the Shell=explorer.exe line is there. That's if you can get to system. ini. You could boot to dos and edit it from there. This may be your problem. I like to eliminate the simple stuff first.

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Jeff Lawrence

[speedyme]

Originally posted by jeffsr:
On other thing to check. Open system.ini and make sure the Shell=explorer.exe line is there. That's if you can get to system. ini. You could boot to dos and edit it from there. This may be your problem. I like to eliminate the simple stuff first.



Jeff... checked the system.ini file (which can be found under Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools-->System Information in the Tools--> Systems Configuration menu.

Unfortunately... the shell=Explorer.exe (in the Boot menu) exists and is checked.


------------------
AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
128MB KingMax ECC RAM
Can I Go Harder?

[speedyme]

Originally posted by Schui:
Do you have multiple user logons on this pc, and also, have you installed Tweakui. I've got the same problem if I install Tweakui..!

If you have installed Tweakui, then you can remove it, and install the Windows 98 version.



Schui... I already have the Win 98 TweakUI installed. I installed the latest version a few weeks ago. The shortcut still existed after the install though.

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AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
128MB KingMax ECC RAM
Can I Go Harder?

[speedyme]

Still stumped!!!

I won't go near the registry and start playing with stuff that no one is absolutely sure about.

Can anyone else provide any solid input?

OS is Win98 SE.
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AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
128MB KingMax ECC RAM
Can I Go Harder?

[This message has been edited by speedyme (edited December 19, 2000).]

[DR]

Have you tried scanreg /fix ? Use it at the DOS prompt, not sure it would work but shouldn't hurt either.

[Juergen]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by speedyme:
When right clicking on the Start button, what used to be a handy shortcut to Windows Explorer... has been greyed out!

I don't know where it has gone and don't know where to look to get it back.</font>

[Schui]

Thankyou Juergen for your input!

Well, I have the same problem at home, and it only happened after I installed Tweakui, and then created different user logons...

Wiped the disk, reinstalled, setup the users logons and then finally installed tweakui.
no probs now!

http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm9.gif

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A General Protection Error has occured - Time to go home...

[Juergen]

Run TweakUI and click on the tab "My Computer". You will see a list of all possible drive letters from A to Z. Make sure that ALL(!!!) drive letters have a tick mark, whether they exist on your PC or not.

That's a known problem in Windows98. The Explorer shortcut will be greyed out if only a single drive is left unchecked.

[speedyme]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Geneva, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Juergen:
Run TweakUI and click on the tab "My Computer". You will see a list of all possible drive letters from A to Z. Make sure that ALL(!!!) drive letters have a tick mark, whether they exist on your PC or not.

That's a known problem in Windows98. The Explorer shortcut will be greyed out if only a single drive is left unchecked.</font>

This man is a legend!

Thank You very much for your help... it seems that Tweak UI was the culprit (I tweaked a little too much!)

I have my handy shortcut back now... thank you all for your assistance.

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AOpen AX6BC M/B
PIII 650@761MHz
256MB KingMax RAM
Can I Go Harder?